Floor construction



March 4, 1930. H. B. CHAMBERLAIN FLOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed April 25, 1929INVENTOR W ,7 BY AM pm 3 1%? w ATTORNEY5 Patented Mar. 4, 1930 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFECE HAROLD B. CHAMBERLAIN, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY,ASSIGNOR TO TUCO PRODUCTS CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION013 NEW YORK FLOOR CONSTRUCTION Application filed. April 25,

railway vehicles, stair-treads, halls and passageways of buildings andsimilar locations where considerable pedestrian traffic is encountered.Floor surfacing material of this type should be thorougholy reinforcedto decrease wear and possibility of rupture there- ;of at places ofgreatest traflic and heavy loads,

and it is further desirable that such floor surfacings be firmly andpermanently secured to the sub-floor structure.

One serious difiiculty encountered in connection with floor coverings,particularly in transportation vehicles, arises from the unusual amountof Wear and abrasion at the 1 door entrances. Thus at certain pointswhere the pedestrian trafiic is extremely concentrated, as at theentrances of vehicles, on stairtreads, etc., depressions are worn intothe floor surfacing, requiring repairs or maintenance at suchpoints whenthe remainder of the floor covering shows no appreciable ef fects ofwear, and since it is desirable to infurther object of the invention toprovide a flooring construction in which the wear-retarding meansemployed is capable of keying the plastic surfacingmaterial to the fiooreven after considerable wear has taken place. A further object of theinvention comprises a provision of means in the flooring construc- 1929.Serial No. 357,916.

tion for preventing the absorption of liquid from the plastic surfacingmaterial by the sub-floor while the plastic material is being laid andis hardening.

Various other specific objects, advantages and characteristic featuresof the invention will become apparent as the description thereofprogresses.

The composite flooring construction of the present invention preferablyincludes a sheet of water-resistant material laid directly on thesub-floor and covered by a substantially plane reinforcing member whichmay conveniently comprise wire mesh of a suitable gauge. Awear-retarding member comprising a perforated metallic plate havingraised portions thereof rests upon the reinforcing member, and thewear-retarding member, the reinforcing member and the water-resistantsheet are all firmly and permanently secured to the sub-floor bysuitable means. The plastic floor surfacing material is poured over thedescribed construction to the required depth, and flows into lockingengagement with the reinforcing member and the wear retarding member.The raised portions of the Wear-retarding member are preferably soformed as to lock the plastic material to the sub-floor even after thesurface of the plastic material has worn down to such an extent that theraised portions of the wearretarding member are exposed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be made to theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of wear-retarding plateconstructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 22 of Figure 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of one embodiment of my improvedflooring construction with certain portions thereof broken away to showthe details of construction; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the construction shown in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, the disclosed embodiment of thewear-retarding member comprises a metallic plate 1 having a plurality ofperforations 2 therethrough and provided with a plurality of spaced up-,wardly protruding circular wear-retarding extensions 3. The extensions 3and the perforations 2 may be distributed over the sur-' face of theplate 1 in any suitable manner,

but a symmetrical distribution of these elements is preferred. Eachextension 3 preferably takes the form of a frustated cone, the diameterof the extension being considerably greater adjacent the plane of theplate 1 than at the upper end, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The curvedconical walls of the extension 3 lock the plastic floor surfacingmaterial in place when this material has worn down to the level of theupper edges of these extensions, as hereinafter morev fully explained.The extensions 3 are preferably formed integral with the plate 1 and maybe conveniently stamped or swaged therefrom, or formed in any othersuitable manner. The plate 1 is preferably provided with a plurality ofsmall openings 4 for the reception of fastening means.

Referring now to the composite flooring construction of the invention,one embodiment of which is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the flooring ispreferably laid on a sub-floor 5 of wood, metal or any other suitablematerial. A sheet 6 of water-resistant or waterproof material such astar paper is laid directly over the sub-floor 5, and a reinforcingmember 7, preferably comprising a continuous layer of wire mesh, is laidabove the sheet 6. Suitable means such as nails 8 are employed to securethe wire mesh reinforcing member 7 together with the water-resistantsheet to the sub-floor 5. The wearretarding plate 1 is laid over thereinforcing member 7 and is suitably permanently secured to thesub-floor 5 by the screws 9 or other suitable means. The floor surfacingsubstance C in the form of a moist and plastic mixture of cementitiousmaterial is poured to, the desired depth upon the reinforcing andwear-retarding means as desired, the upper surface thereof being leveledoff in any suitable manner at a point above the upper edges ofwear-retarding extensions 3. The plastic surfacing material Cfiowsthrough the openings 2 in the plate 1 and through the wire meshreinforcing member 7, and when this material sets or hardens, both theplate 1 and the wire mesh 7 are firmly embedded therein, and the floorsurface securely keyed or locked to the sub-floor 5.

The moisture-resistant sheet 6 prevents the leakage of moisture from theplastic material C and the absorption of such moisture by the sub-floor5 before the material has set. Thus the material C is not weakened bythe premature extraction of moisture thereform during the hardeningperiod, and the sub-floor 5 is not rotted by water from the plasticmaterial. The sheet 6 further separates the plastic floor slab C fromthe subfloor 5 and thereby prevents the cracking or rupture of slab uponthe warping, sagging or vibration of the sub-floor.

The wire mesh reinforcing member 7 strengthens the entire floor slab andfurther keys or fastens the surface slab to the subfloor. Thewear-retarding plate 1 also reinforces the plastic material C and keysit to the sub-floor, but the primary function of this plate is to retardthe wearing away of the surfacing material C at points'such as theentrances or vestibules of vehicles where excessive wear is encountered.When the plastic material C is worn down to such an extent that theupper edges of the extensions 3 are exposed, these extensions retard thefurther abrasion of the floor surface, and thereby prevent prematurefailure at points of ex-- cessive wear. The tapered or conical shape ofthe extensions 3 prevents the breakage or dislodgement of the portions11 of the plastic material C within these extensions 3. WVhen the floorsurface is worn down to the edges of the extensions 3, the portions 11within these extensions are connected to the remainder of the plasticslab by a comparatively thin layer of plastic material below the plate 1only, but the inclined walls of the extensions 3 firmly key theseportions 11 to the remain der of the floor structure and preventtheltgosening, cracking or dislod-gement there- 0 The wear-retarding plate1 maybe formed of ordinary sheet metal such as iron, brass or aluminum.The rounded shape of the extensions 3 in the plate 1 provides smoothsurfaces for contact with the plastic mate rial C, whereby the crackingof the plastic ioo Q material due to contact with sharp edges iseffectively prevented.

Due to the thorough and'eflicient reinforcing and keying means provided,the flooring construction of the present invention is not only of amplestrength to bear considerable loads, but is unusually light in weight.The flooring construction is thus particularly desirable for use inrailway vehicles where light strong floors are essential, but the invention is in no way limited to this specific use.

Although the flooring construction of the present invention has beendescribed in connectlon wlth a single specific embodiment, it

should be understood that various changes,

modifications and omissions may be made in the construction withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. A floorstructure of the type described member and said plate to saidsub-floor and a plastic surfacing material embedding said reinforcingmember and said plate and ex tending above said wear-retardingextensions.

2. A floor structure of the type described comprising a sub-floor, alayer of moistureresistant material on said sub-floor, a network ofreinforcing elements above said moistureresistant material, a metallicplate above said reinforcing elements, upwardly protrudingwear-retarding extensions on said plate, means for securing said plateand said reinforcing elements to said sub-floor, and a mass of plasticfloor surfacing material embedding said reinforcing member on said plateand extending from said mosture-resistant ma terial to a plane abovesaid wear-retarding extensions.

3. A floor structure of the type described comprising a sheet ofmoisture-resistant material, a network of reinforcing elements abovesaid sheet, a metallic plate above said reinforcing network, a pluralityof wear-retarding extensions integral with and extending upwardly fromsaid metallic plate and a plastic surfacing material embedding saidreinforcing elements and said plate and extending from saidmoisture-resistant sheet to a plane above said wear-retardingextensions.

4. A floor structure of the type described comprising a sub-floor, asheet of moisture resistant material on said sub-floor, a wire meshreinforcing element above said sheet, means for securing saidreinforcing element and said sheets to said sub-floor, a perforatemetallic plate above said reinforcing element, a plurality of spacedupwardly protruding wear-retarding extensions on said plate, means forsecuring said plate to said subfloor, and a plastic surfacing materialembedding said reinforcing member and said plate and extending from saidmoisture-resistant sheet to a plane above the wear-retarding extensionsof said plate.

5. A floor structure of the type described comprising a sub-floor, asheet of moistureresistant material on said sub-floor, a wire meshreinforcing element above said sheet, means for securing saidreinforcing element and said sheet to said sub-fioor, a perforatemetallic plate above said reinforcing element, a plurality of hollowfrusto-conical wear-retarding extensions 7 protruding upwardly from saidplate, means for securing said plate to said sub-floor, and a mass ofplastic floor surfacing material surrounding said plate and filling saidextensions.

6. A floor structure of the type described comprising a sub-floor, areinforcing element above said sub-floor, a metallic plate above saidreinforcing element, a plurality of hollow upwardly protrudingwear-retarding extensions of rounded section on said plate, saidextensions being open at their upper ends and being of larger section atthe plane of said plate than at their upper ends, a mass of plasticfloor surfacing material surrounding said plate and said reinforcingelements and filling said hollow extensions, and means for securing saidplate to said sub-floor.

7. A floor structure of the type described comprising a sub-floor, asheet of moistureresistant material on said sub-floor, a wire meshreinforcing element above said sheet, a perforate metallic plate abovesaid reinforcing element, a plurality of spaced upwardly protrudinghollow extensions of rounded section formed integral with said plate,said extensions having an upwardly constricted inner bore and being openat their upper ends, means for securing said plate to said subfioor anda plastic floor surfacing material surrounding said plate and saidreinforcing member and filling said hollow extensions, said surfacingmaterial extending from said moisture-resistant sheet to a plane abovethe upper ends of said extensions.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HAROLD B. CHAMBERLAIN.

